Building a Midwest Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement

Abolition NOW
FTP. 2021

Building a Midwest
Revolutionary
Abolitionist
Movement

Black Ink

drafted Spring
2021

The moment is now...

We must seize the time. We cannot wait. We encourage readers of this text to
begin organizing along the lines of the trajectory we charted out at whatever
capacity you have. Small steps of a few individuals are essential for any mass
revolutionary movement to catalyze. We wrote this text to be used in struggle.
It is meant to be shared on a street corner, through the bars of a prison, or with
comrades in another city who are struggling to find their role in movement. We
build with care, urgency, and the dedication to build liberated worlds out of the
ashes of this one.

Finally, it has become clear that a new Civil war among white society is on the
horizon. We suggest revolutionary abolitionists seize the moment during this
crisis internal to the Amerikan plantation as the enslaved Black masses did in the
General Strike, during the first Civil war, to destroy chattel slavery. Settler
society must be obliterated by the revolutionary abolitionist current by any means
necessary. GLOBAL BLACK INSURRECTION. KNIFE TO THE
THROAT OF AMERIKAN FASCISM.

For freedom and autonomy
For the end of this world

For the countless new worlds beyond

‘Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative
opacity. °— Franz Fanon

Building a Midwest
Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement

drafted Spring 2021

We are in the middle of a revolutionary period. Following the rebellions of
Summer 2020, a level of revolutionary consciousness has reemerged on a mass
scale throughout the United States. Over the past two years, there have been
massive revolts against Capital and the State across the world. Physical
infrastructures of policing and the prison industrial complex became the targets
of generalized militant street action in unprecedented ways. Uprisings, escapes,
and strikes still continue to persist in sites of detention, at times spilling beyond
the walls. Not only is concerted militant action against the police state now a
defining feature of the revolutionary seasons to come, equally important is how
radical movements for Black autonomy have continued to since take root.
Militant struggles for Indigenous self-determination and the liberation of
colonized ecologies and lifeways daily expose the illegitimacy of the settler
colonial nation. While Amerika’s imperialist death march continues to face
resistance all across the planet, there are currently masses of people within the
core of empire who are realizing the potential they have to stop the machinery of
racist Capital and subvert its control over our communities through sustained
collective action. ‘The only logical outcome we foresee for the current global
trajectory is REVOLUTION OR DEATH in ongoing fascist eco-genocide.

This document is the product of a group of revolutionaries in the so-called
“Midwestern” region of the United States, to clarify a regional political trajectory
for revolutionary abolitionist practice in the Midwest. We define it as a
“trajectory because we think that any strategy and analysis we outline should be
subject to constant critique, development, and revision. ‘hese are therefore not
definitive words but instead present both working theoretical and practical
positions. We hope that this trajectory informs revolutionaries working within
our own region, as well as revolutionaries organizing throughout and against the
broader white colonizer plantation society.

We have structured this document into three parts.

1. Revolutionary Abolition as the central revolutionary tendency for
autonomous forces in the United States

2. Regional specificities of the Midwest and Character of
revolutionary/progressive movements

3. Lhe Distro as a growing model of revolutionary “organization”

Part 1: Revolutionary Abolitionism

We want to define Revolutionary Abolitionism as we believe that the character
of a revolution in the United States emerges from the historical conditions of
resistance to captivity and forms of state dominion specific to the local
articulation of anti-Blackness and white supremacy. At its deepest foundations,
the United States of Amerika is a white settler nation based on racial slavery,
land occupation, population displacement, and perpetual warfare. We write
from the perspective that U.S.-based revolutionary groups continually fail in

periods of revolt and that revolutionary activity necessitates the creation of
mechanisms of community accountabilityand a deep commitment to eradicating
gendered and racist violence, exploitation, marginalization, domination,
hierarchy, and ableism internal to our movements.

Expect contradictions to arise when you work together with people from
different social positions, political tendencies, and with different ideas of class
belonging, so it is important to organize a Distro with people you know and
trust, and who have the same principles and respect for your autonomy and need
for rest. Often times discussing the idea with some longtime friends is the best
way to go about it. Or people you have developed a strong level of political trust
with. Some projects might see it necessary to expand their efforts to Serve the
People and simply fill a material community need. But people should collectively
understand what the objective of their project is and anticipate that the
consequence of expansion may be an emergent charity dynamic, savior logic, or
the misguided subversion of mutual aid's transformative valence. Scaling too
large might also result in burn out, so be mindful of capacity and the potential
timeline of your project. It is important to constantly assess and reevaluate your
objectives as a collective, and be mindful of the number of people moving in and
out of planning spaces. Both for logistical and security reasons. ‘The idea is not
to centralize efforts, nor is the Distro an apparatus to manage actions that take
flight over the course of its existence. ‘The purpose of the Distro is to catalyze and
not become an anchor. ‘To repeat, te goal of the distro is to catalyze and not
become an anchor for the revolutionary process in motion.

your community, circles, social space, or whatever. Sharing literature is central
but it is not the only way to communicate your ideas to people you are in relation
with. Importantly, the zine distro must be oriented towards the people rather
than to the personal politics of the revolutionaries. ‘The goal of the popular
education is not to try and circulate esoteric texts but rather educational material
that builds and helps makes sense of the ongoing struggles and material
conditions faced by a community. ‘The goal of the Zine Distro should be to
articulate and defend the revolt against settler society. ‘This could mean that the
Distro develops texts specific to the area that the revolutionaries operate in to
develop a localized analysis. For instance, the Midwest has a long history and
deep culture of zine distribution that interestingly has always had one of its
largest audiences in the prisons. ‘The importance of reaching into the prisons and
sending literature and correspondence also can never be underestimated. Co-
creating literature with imprisoned revolutionaries is also an invaluable way to
sharpen one's own group analysis, as the nonimprisoned revolutionary can never
fully comprehend the changing politics of power in plantation society without
listening in to the pulse of the movement for Prisoner Liberation.

Finally, we emphasize the need for c/ass combatas a central part of the Distro
model. We believe that conflictual actions that contest the dominion of the State
and racist Capital are critical. We want to emphasize that we place importance
on the mass grassroots organizing model for this conflictuality. ‘Vhe Distro
should help catalyze projects that fight back against class enemies such as cops,
prison bureaucrats, capitalists, landlords, fascists and bosses through utilizing a
variety of different tactics. ‘he most important that the projects could look very
different place by place, it could be a Copwatch in one neighborhood or a tenant's
union in the next or both. ‘The goal is to enable collective groups of people that
can combat class enemies in a way that is militant, uncompromising, and
continues to bring people into the struggle. ‘The centrality of attack is critical as
well. Yet the difference between this approach to class combat and what we add
to an insurrectional approach is our focus on what happens in between upswing

their attempts to import ideologies from other historical and geographic
locations to carry out the initiative of revolution in this particular social context.
There is a rather substantial record of revolutions, radical traditions, and organic
forms of struggle generated precisely from within the belly of settler empire itself.
These are longstanding histories of local-level resistance and place-specific
lineages of contesting state and capital. While we believe that the countless
global revolutionary traditions have much to teach us, we believe that a
revolution in the United States will take on a character defined by localized social
contexts that are relative to a region’s situated material history. We neither wish
to recuperate the white Amerikan national map nor give its borders any shred of
legitimacy. We are writing with the aim to understand and base our
understanding on the histories of Black and Indigenous resistance to the most
evil and depraved empire on earth. The “U.S.” is a term that invokes our enemy
and target.

The history of revolutionary movements in this country while varied have always
been connected to and driven by a politics of freedom struggle. For this reason,
we believe that a revo/utionaryabolitionist trajectory is the most likely to resonate
within the United States. The pursuit of freedom of the oppressed by their own
hands utilizing any means necessary is critical to the revolutionary abolitionist
trajectory in the present day. Abolition means nothing if it is not absolute
freedom struggle, a movement for total liberation. An insurgent defiance against
every interlocking system of oppression. We are uninterested in settler colonial
Amerikan notions of “freedom” that leave the State and white supremacy intact.
We are interested in a freedom that means the destruction of the United States
in its entirety. ‘The fundamental revolutionary action that has remained central
to any movement in this country is the self-activity of the Black masses who were
enslaved but remained constantly in revolt against the plantation society.
Current revolutionary movements must take on the character of the revolt.

‘The main aspects we find valuable about revolutionary abolition is how it is
fundamentally rooted in the Black Radical ‘Tradition. ‘The history of
revolutionary abolitionist movements—from the slave uprisings to Attica to the
Black Panther Party—are distinctly informed by the Black Radical frameworks.
Revolutionary abolitionism as a trajectory of freedom struggle in the United
States also encompasses a multitude of other autonomous radical traditions.
‘These traditions cannot be flattened or collapsed for the sake of comparison to
create a “movement of movements,” as many on the settler Left would have you
confused. We do not believe that a revolutionary abolitionist movement should
be ideologically, organizationally, or even strategically uniform. Instead,
revolutionary abolitionism as a trajectory embraces a multitude of influences and
frameworks such as the Black radical tradition, anarcho-communism,
Indigenous resistance, decolonial movements, autonomist forms of communism,
Black feminism, radical queer frameworks, insurrectionary anarchism, eco-
socialism, ete.

Building on the ideas of three decades of radical and revolutionary Black/Native
feminist consciousness in particular, we also believe the Prison Industrial
Complex forms the overarching context of struggle that we are situated within
and fight against as abolitionists. ‘This perspective of the existing terrain compels
all abolition movements to ask: /f the Prisoner Liberation movement is not
considered ground zero in this trajectory of freedom struggle than have we have
failed to be abolitionists? Both the leadership and participation of imprisoned
populations, and nonimprisoned peoples’ willingness to bend the bars and
connect with revolutionaries inside are important features of a movement that is
qualitatively abolitionist in the United States.

While many of the above principles expelled in definition exceed the boundaries
of this position paper, the terms of engagement and proposals for Midwest
revolutionary abolitionists that we plot here forward are possible and in a
number of places already being be actualized. Blueprints and models of course

The Distro is a versatile medium and method of revolutionary abolitionist
community organizing which is based principally in collective practices of
survival, study, and class combat (conflictuality). We find that these three
practices are essential for the revolutionary project.

We believe that revolutionaries must be supporting each other and our
communities to SURVIVE the brutality of capitalism. We take particular
inspiration from the idea of Poor People’s Survival Programs, as theorized and
implemented by the Black Autonomy Federation. Faith and courage in one’s
capacity to challenge oppressive systems is gained through taking action to keep
one another housed, fed, warm, and safe. A critical part of these survival
programs is going to be developing structures of access, care, and material
support for people with children, people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated
people, and survivors of systemic state and interpersonal violence.

The idea of S7UDY is the idea that revolutionaries involved in these distro
projects need to be constantly developing cultures of learning, self-criticism, and
accountability. ‘he cultures of learning are going to be oral in many cases rather
than dense theoretical cultures that are only accessible to academics. While we
believe that it is essential for all revolutionaries to have deep knowledge of
history, theory, and tactics, we believe that the main concern for revolutionaries
is doing popular education about revolutionary topics. Ifyou are not prepared to
communicate the objectives of your project to people without academic jargon
or in a way that moves beyond savior paternalism, then preliminary education
internal to your group may be needed. We suggest therefore trying to naturalize
Abolitionist Study as a feature of your immediate communities of struggle and
slowly move outwards into neighborhoods, spheres of social life, or other centres
of convergence.

We believe that a good popular form for political education is distributing zines.
The “Zine Distro’ is a useful medium for entering into the common vibration of

Part 3: Distro as a Form of Catalyst

As this document is not just concerned with theoreticals, we also want to present
an organizational model for our comrades reading it. ‘The Distro is a situated,
place-based project—a hyper-local catalyst that addresses the specific needs and
concerns of an existing neighborhood or community. ‘The idea of this so-called
form of organization is put best as the phrase “each one teach one,” and described
spatially as “block by block.” As Malcolm X says, “all revolutions are based on
land” as the land is the source of all life. We must be willing to seize and hold the
land as we push for abolition and decolonization. Important to clarify is how this
notion of place-based work is not to be confused with the common “land-based”
white radical project model, which is reactionary and reinforces settler
occupation and a colonial relation of dominance. ‘The Distro is a tool of
insurrectional activity that has no attachments to land as a property relation,
commodity, or object of ownership. As a revolutionary abolitionist project, the
Distro must therefore be rooted in a form of radicalism that is principled in its
antrcolonial practices and antécapitalist methods.

A Distro is something that someone with relatively no experience can partake in
or with very little necessary resources can get started. The initial catalyst group
size should be from 3 to 15 people. It is critical that this catalyst group has very
clear set goals and shared principles before it engages in collective work, so
having a few discussions about framework and principles is important prior to
making moves within the community. ‘The goal of the Distro is not to perform
the functions ofa vanguard but rather act as a catalyst for a variety of autonomous
projects within a neighborhood and eventually a larger regional area. We believe
that the Streetside Distro in particular is an easily reproducible form through
which revolutionaries can organize in so many different settings. Distros have
over the years even served to provide structure for genuine grassroots
revolutionary movements to organize across prison walls.

are never sufficient, and a catalyst project will always require experimentation to
achieve any objectives it sets out to do. ‘The remainder of this paper will discuss
the specifics and peculiar contours of the Midwest as a specific terrain we see
ourselves situated in as revolutionary abolitionists in the streets, and an argument
for the proliferation of the Distro form, which encompasses a Catalyst project
that combines the objectives of survival, study, and class combat through the
simple use of table, some food and zines.

Part 2: The Midwest

The regional specificities of the Midwest are particularly important for
revolutionary abolitionists. Our conception of the “Midwest” is related mainly to
particular conditions of life in the areas we reside that are determined by and
place-specific structures we are in conflict with. We want to discuss the
specificity of the region's terrain, pathways and transportation infrastructure, the
geography's specific “car culture,” and the proximity between a variety of urban
centers. ‘hese are all serious material factors in the play of accumulating revolts
and the capacity of neighbors to share in the production of insurgency, to connect
and maintain across space most importantly. Unlike the East Coast which is
connected by a bunch of trains and major interstates and is relatively close
together, the urban centers are islands within the Midwest. ‘This does not mean
we cannot find our way to new pathways. ‘The use of cars in rebellions and the
ability for our comrades to drive across large distances to build is something that
we should invest deeper and consider in revolutionary strategy. We can be
driving across the highways and utilizing roads to visit and build with our
comrades, in addition to traveling to aid insurgents in their revolt.

Large white localities in the region present a challenge for revolutionaries
invested in the destruction of whiteness. The reactionary rural and suburban
areas present a dangerous terrain in the Midwest. As revolutionaries in the
Midwest, we've driven through rural areas with ‘Trump signs and forests where
white citizen's militias train with AR-15s. As revolutionaries, we accept the
present realities of the white reactionaries as our enemies. However, the presence
of the white reactionaries does not negate a revolutionary horizon guided by the
Black Radical ‘Tradition in such zones. In some senses, areas full of white
reactionaries present opportunities for revolutionaries to seize on and substantial
vacuums that oppositional activity can set the terms of struggle from within and
fill. Many of these large white localities means a lack of presence of the Black neo-
colonial elites which means the conflict defined by the revolutionary forces
battling the State and their white citizen militias is clearer and less difficult to
navigate than the liberal managers of capital.

While we do not diminish the danger of the white reactionary, we find that the
neoliberal technocrats and Black neo-colonial elites in the major cities present a
much significant danger to revolutionary forces through their ability to co-opt,
defuse, and redirect movements that demonstrate to have material teeth. ‘Thus,
those of us positioned within the Midwest small cities and more rural zones have
opportunities that our comrades on the Coasts may not have. We can build out
revolutionary bases in many areas without worrying about liberal co-optation.
Furthermore, the danger from such reactionary forces makes us adopt a stricter
culture of security and community defense.

The small cities and the large cities of the region both have distinct things to offer
one another. ‘The large cities have older pre-existing revolutionary milieus which
are connected to long time movement history. “The experience of these
revolutionaries is invaluable. In addition, movement infrastructure in these
spaces tend to be more well developed in terms of physical spaces, publications
and other types of things. ‘The small cities, suburbs and rural areas offer the big

cities spaces that are less dominated by the NPIC and the Establishment “Left.”
This means that the groups in this area can build with less resistance.
Furthermore, these spaces are not considered to be radical centers so they could
provide a space for revolutionaries to build infrastructure with less amount of
cost. Additionally, the State in these areas is less familiar with a revolutionary
current so they are going to be less prepared to repress revolutionary movements.
While in some larger cities, the State infrastructure has spent decades refining
tactics against revolutionary movements, this is not the case universally. We need
to take this into consideration in regard to our tactics.

We encourage revolutionaries to build autonomy in terms of their region in
addition to the immediate areas that they live in. Driving across the occupied
Midwest for a couple hours to support fellow revolutionaries needs to become a
more regular practice. ‘To destroy this world, we will need to build deep roots
throughout every part of the Plantation. This will happen through building
intimate relationships with revolutionaries throughout our region. A box of zines
or an in-person organizing conversation can go a very long way in terms of
building revolutionary capacity between different places. Furthermore, our
revolutionary comrades present in areas dominated by the NPIC found it often
refreshing to meet comrades in areas not dominated by the nonprofits and the
Academy. Our connections to one another are the key to a revolutionary project.
Different regional localities must be in constant conversation as a tactical
concern. Although much of this work has been happening informally and ad hoc,
we need to think about driving a few hours to see our comrades in areas with less
developed revolutionary infrastructure as a commonplace practice.